The 31st Marine Expeditionary Units, the service’s forward deployed force in Japan, has been a key unit in testing new American capabilities in the Pacific in what the Pentagon has called a “decisive year,” in the region.
Throughout the year, the Marine Corps enhanced cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific and continued Force Design 2030 (FD 2030) experimentation through the MEU, unit leaders told reporters last week.
As the service’s only permanently forward-deployed Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF), the 31st MEU holds a unique place among similar Marine units. Based in Okinawa on the first island chain, the MEU is one of the primary Marine formations called on for engagements with U.S. allies and partners in the region. The unit also is a testing ground for new concepts under the Marine Corps FD 2030 transformation, which aims to orient the service from its ground-based focus toward a potential fight in the Indo-Pacific.
Engagement with Allies
Col. Matthew Danner, commanding officer of the 31st MEU, gave an overview of the MEU’s work in the region, during a media call on Wednesday.
“Every single thing that we do is on the pacing threat’s doorstep. There’s opportunities for sustained messaging and collections that other MEUs don’t have. So it’s a unique capability that we’re able to provide by virtue of being forward-deployed,” Danner explained.
With increasing tensions in the region from China, which was designated as the United States’ “pacing threat” in the 2018 National Defense Strategy, the 31st MEU has been used to bolster defense and security relationships with allies and partners. Twice a year, the 31st MEU departs its home station at Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa for various exercises and activities across the Indo-Pacific. The 2023 patrols, designated Patrols 23.1 and 23.2, saw Marines participate in four major bilateral and multilateral exercises, including Iron Fist 23 in Japan, Talisman Sabre 23 in Australia, Super Garuda Shield 23 in Indonesia and KAMANDAG 7 in the Philippines.
The 31st MEU also supported U.S. humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) efforts in Papua New Guinea in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption of Mount Bagana. Before the eruption, the MEU was finishing up Talisman Sabre 23 in Australia and was promptly rerouted to the beleaguered country. Danner highlighted that because of inadequate local infrastructure, the CH-53E Super Stallions and MV-22B Ospreys of the MEU’s aviation combat element were crucial in ferrying much-needed disaster relief supplies. The 31st MEU managed to deliver almost 70,000 pounds of supplies to aid centers over ten days.
From conventional military exercises to HA/DR operations, Danner acknowledged that these efforts to form connections with regional militaries and local governments also tie into the broader INDOPACOM picture. During KAMANDAG 7, elements of the 31st MEU visited Batanes to engage with the Philippine military and local government. Located in the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan, the islands lie within one of the few choke points separating the first and second island chains.
At the request of Manila, U.S. Marines have visited the islands around three times to not only improve relationships with Philippine forces and the local government but to also advise and help develop Batanes’ medical and transportation infrastructure. Elements of the 31st MEU that came to the islands to engage with the Philippines include everything from medical and engineering teams to Marine chaplains.
“It’s really gotten to the point right now where it’s an enduring relationship, a very personal relationship. We think this really enabled the government of the Philippines in some critical ways and helps the geographic combatant commander because there’s this enduring relationship. Which translates of course to operational-level access,” Danner said.
31st MEU’s Role in Force Design 2030
When asked by USNI News how his command was contributing to the Marine Corps revolutionary transformation, Danner highlighted the 31st MEU’s experiences in the organizational aspects of FD 2030 and their maritime domain awareness experimentation.
While the new Marine littoral regiment (MLR) has garnered the most attention regarding the service’s most significant changes, the traditional, combined arms-focused MAGTF also has been affected by FD 2030. Danner brought light to how these changes from FD 2030, particularly through the Unit Deployment Program, affect the 31st MEU.
“There’s a couple of ways in which they affect us in particular. One of which is through the UDP, the Unit Deployment Program, forces that come for each patrol cycle. And these include the light attack squadrons, the heavy lift squadron, and then the entirety of the Ground Combat Element, those are the most significant portions,” Danner said.
He further added that through these changes with new equipment and jobs, the 31st MEU can help inform the Marine Corps on the force structure’s effect on those units.
Danner also explained the intelligence collection capabilities being enhanced through FD 2030. For the 31st MEU, new changes to III Marine Expeditionary Force’s Information Group (MIG) have led the unit to focus on maritime domain awareness via expeditionary advanced base operations.
“For example, expeditionary advanced [base] operations. There are several forms of expeditionary advanced bases (EAB), some of them are for command and control, for logistics distribution, or to provide the ability to do aviation operations. One of the ones that I focus on the most is for sensing. We call them sensory EABs, and the sensory EABs what they typically consist of, is a ground sensor capability. There are maritime equivalents that enable us to provide remote sensing capability offshore, and then the radars to provide surface radar up to 40 or 50 nautical miles, and then we link those collections into other Sensory EABs,” Danner said.
He also added that information collected through EAB sensors would be organized into “joint architecture,” which can be accessed by joint task forces and higher-level commanders to help inform decision-making. Marine Corps formations throughout the region have been testing sensory EABs as well as systems, such as ground-based maritime radars and C2 nodes. In the Philippines and Indonesia, Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia deployed the U.S. Army’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN). The next-generation data-processing ground station is being examined by the service as it develops its kill chain to deploy long-range anti-ship and cruise missiles.
With much of the equipment currently deployed in the sensory role not under a program of record, as well as continual experimentation on new radars and C2 being brought in to test, the 31st MEU relies on the III MIG to provide the training, personnel and equipment. In turn, the unit provides feedback, which Danner highlighted as crucial as these tests become programs of record going forward.
While the 31st MEU only recently completed Patrol 23.2, as the service’s only forward-deployed MAGTF it has already begun its first patrol of 2024. According to Danner, Patrol 24.1 started last November and is expected to continue into May.
